With the fast development of the electronics industry, advanced electronic components such as CPUs (central processing units) are being made to have ever quicker operating speeds. During operation of the advanced electronic components, a larger amount of heat is generated. In order to ensure good performance and reliability of the electronic components, the operational temperature of the electronic components must be kept within a predetermined range. Generally, a heat dissipating apparatus such as a heat sink or a heat spreader is attached to a surface of the electronic component, so that the generated heat is dissipated from the electronic component to ambient air via the heat dissipating apparatus. However, the contact surfaces between the heat dissipating apparatus and the electronic component are rough and therefore are separated from each other by a layer of interstitial air, no matter how precisely the heat dissipating apparatus and the electronic component are brought into contact; thus, the interface thermal resistance is relatively high. A thermal interface material is preferred for being applied to the contact surfaces to eliminate the air interstices between the heat dissipating apparatus and the electronic component in order to improve the heat dissipation.
The thermal interface material includes silicone oil as base oil and fillers filled in the silicone oil. The silicone oil is used for filling the air interstices to achieve an intimate contact between the heat dissipating apparatus and the electronic component, whilst the fillers are used for improving the heat conductivity of the thermal interface material to thereby increase the heat dissipation efficiency of the heat dissipating apparatus. However, the amount of the fillers receivable in the silicone oil is limited since the holding capability of the silicone oil for the fillers is limited, so that the thermal conductivity of the grease is limited.